A reader says, "I was fascinated by the conversation (in The Lost) between Teyla and Carson. I can see why Carson thinks that maybe the Wraith are the result of an experiment of the Ancients gone wrong, but I'm more interested in what that does in terms of the retrovirus plot with Rodney. Have the Wraith found a way to duplicate the original experiment? How would the Wraith be able to do that? And why would they want to? And how do Teyla's abilities play into this?

*deep breath* Ok! You've got ahold of a major plot thread there! Without being completely spoilery for the entire rest of the series, .

Carson's second theory, that the Wraith were the result of a prototype innoculation against the Iratus Bug devised by the Ancients that then went badly wrong is not entirely right, and not entirely false either. Carson is on the right track, but he's not there yet. Way back in season two we learned that it is possible to suppress the Iratus DNA and make a Wraith human, as we saw with Michael and the others. But going the other way? Introducing Iratus DNA and not getting John Sheppard Bug Man?

Clearly it can be done, because there's Rodney. How the Wraith have done this is too spoilery, but why? It's not something they would ever want to do on a wide scale, but to one particular person whose knowledge would be priceless? Yes. Remember, in the raid in Homecoming that the Wraith were after Rodney, not just any member of the team. This was about Rodney from the beginning, and about the things Rodney knows.

How do Teyla's abilities play into it? As we saw with JS Bug Man, there are some advantages to the Iratus DNA. It makes you very strong, for example. Of course it also makes you totally nuts. How do you get some of the most desirable qualities of the Iratus DNA without the drawbacks?

Surely this is something Michael considered closely. And, after several years of experiments, what he wanted was Torren. Not a giant bug monster. Not a zombie. But a child who appears entirely human but who has...what? What did Michael think Torren could do?

In the end of Homecoming we saw Torren use the Gift. He was the first one who reacted when the Wraith came through the gate. So far Torren can't tell anyone how he perceives the world because he's too young. But that's an important question. What did Michael want? What did he think he'd found? And why, in The Last Man AU, did he kill Teyla?